day 1 - wisconsin

I plan to "map" my road trip by days so that I have a record - because for sure I'll lose my maps

Home to Eau Claire

cocktails at 3pm

We are in South Dakota continuing our brew tour. The middle of SD has no brew pubs so we had to improvise.

We were in the middle of nowhere -

Dr. Deb

arizonal pics

http://s851.photobucket.com/albums/ab76/rmuskett/arizona/

political correctness

What the hell?

I don't necessarily understand what is and what is not appropriate. For example, why did Marquette change from the Warriors to the Golden Pigeons (or whatever the hell they are) - I mean how can a "warrior" be politically incorrect? - So here I am cruising thru the Navajo Reservation and what do I see? The Red Mesa Redskins? What could be the most politically insensitive word for a school district to use? I would have thought "redskin" would be it -

I don't get it -

flagstaff to farmington nm

We had to mail stuff so went out looking for the UPS store - didn't find it but found the fed-ex store and mailed my stuff. We then went to staples to find a tube to mail my contraband to my friend David (enjoy my friend) and then found the UPS store and mailed the other "stuff".

We then booked out of Flagstaff and headed towards Farmington NM. The scenery was unbelievable. It changed rapidily. I will try and post pictures later.

We ended up in Farmington - headed towards the downtown hoping to find a motel near restaraunts and bars and holy shit what did we find? Thats right the three rivers brewery - yep good beer. http://www.threeriversbrewery.com/ - hell great beer. We ate dinner and drank (Deb drank wine) and then headed back to the motel (2 short blocks - we walked).

In New Mexico the beer bars must close by 11pm. All they sold was beer and wine (and only their beer) but they still are a "beer" bar - sort of like when we lived in Kansas - but that wasn't real beer - 3.2 beer.

finishing the day from hell

or was it two days?

I got to Phoenix w/o problems although it was a bumpy ride - landed around 6:30 or thereabouts. Went to fire up my laptop so I knew what flight Deb was on and holy shit its dead. It won't boot; some file is 'corrupted'. Not much I could do so I tried (unsucessfully) to sleep in the baggage claim area. Unfortunatelly they have 3 or 4 terminals and I didn't know which one Deb was coming in on so I waited till she called me. I hate fucking cell phones but I was sure glad to have one then.

I couldn't sleep because every 30 seconds they would announce where the idiots that couldn't read were to go to get there luggage. I mean how hard is it to read that flight 343 from Chicago is to go to carousel 5 to pick up your luggage? Unfortunately due to the incompetence of our English teachers the idiots can't read thus it has to be announced and poor me couldn't sleep.

I was in terminal 4 and Deb arrived in terminal 3 so when she called I booked over there and met her. We took a taxi to the greyhound and waited for 1.5+ hours for our bus. The gal in line in front of us was great - I'm guessing she was over 80. She was traveling by herself from Yuma AZ to Montana (I think) for a wedding. She is planning on a trip to Israel in the next year or so - I hope I'm booking around like her in 30 more years.

side note: not all drivers of Greyhound are assholes. Our driver was nice and polite.

We arrived in Flagstaff around 2:40 and walked to the hostel ( http://www.grandcanyonhostel.com/ ). It was about a 10 minute walk and then we checked in (duh). We then went to the bus stop (local) to catch the bus to get to my storage shed. Of course I was clueless as to what bus to take but there was some lady there waiting for her bus who knew all there was to know about the bus system and directed us to the correct bus (thank you). Once we got off the bus we still had to walk 1 mile to get to my car but made it by 5 - they close at 5. My car started up and we booked back to the hostel after stopping at Office Max to get tape and a box to mail extra stuff (camping) home. After all my car is a tad small.

We went out had a few drinks and ate dinner. We were crashed by 8pm.

I was dead tired but all went well -

trip from hell

Got up at 7:00 am this morning and left the hotel (Guatemala City) at 9:am. I'm obsessive about being early I know - my flight left at 2:05. I got to Houston a couple of minutes early but really got stressed out. There was a million people in line for immigration and I only had maybe 70 minutes. Of course I'm always nervous going thru immigration and customs since they are more like Hitlers Gestapo than protectors of our borders. Of course I was a tad more nervous as I was smuggling a fine (I really have to question that assesment) stogie for a friend from some remote island country. I digress - I made it through customs and all the annoying bullshit and got to my gate with 15 minutes to spare. The plane ended up leaving 2 1/2 hours late (storms). I arrived in Chicago then at around 12:30 am.

What the hell am I doing in Chicago when my car is in Flagstaff? The cheapest ticket took me this way with a 7 hour layover in Chicago (reduced by the storms). So here I sit at my gate unable to sleep. If its not the guy vacuming its the guy driving the floor cleaning machine. If its not the cops walking their dogs (what the hell is that about) and talking its the other employees who obviously are unsupervised just talking. And then there is that damn repetitive announcement on the loudspeaker, "the current threat level is orange" and the whole 3 - 1 - 1 thing over and over. I finally said the hell with it and am now typing awaiting my 5:15 flight. So unless something magic happens there will be no sleep for this kid. I rested for a hour before I gave up but got no sleep. And then when I get into Phoenix I have to wait for Deb. I arrive in Phoenix at 6:46 am and our greyhound bus leaves at 11:45 am - boy am I going to be dead.

I suck at games

Two games:

Runts

While in Guatemala I think its important to practice the runts game. I mean its an important skill to have. Last week I dropped my 1Q in the runt machine (pretty much the same as USA runts) and I got 1 bananna. Thats it - 1 freaking bananna. Nothing else. Absolutely nothing. What a waste of money.

Pool

I went out with Reuben and shot pool yesterday. We played maybe 15 games. I won the last. We played 3 different games.

1st game

You start with the 1 ball. You must hit the 1 ball first and then you get whatever ball you put in. Add up the number of 'points' and the guy with the most is the winner. If you hit the 1 and you slop in the 7 then you have 7 points and you can continue. Once the 1 ball is in you then must hit the 2 first, and so on. It wasn't even close. I don't know the name of this game.

2nd game

You only use the first 8 balls and again you must go in order. The winner is the one that puts the 8 ball in the pocket that he calls. So if I call a combo 1 ball into the 8 ball and make it I win. This game is played 'ball in hand' if you don't hit the ball you are supposed to - or you scratch. This game is called 8 ball

3rd game

What we know as 8 ball but with slop. However on scratches we played ball in hand.

Boy did I suck.

La Tienda

This is 'my tienda'. It’s about a 1 minute walk. Tienda's are a staple in Latin America and more so in Guatemala. They sell anything that you are likely to 'have forgotten' at the grocery store. They sell cigarettes singly. Need some loose leaf paper? 8 sheets for 1Q. Forgot eggs? you can buy 1 or whatever quantity you need. Rueben and Gloria are great people. Reuben is retired and Gloria is the main worker (my observation). The tienda isopen from about 7am to 10 pm and Gloria takes off maybe 1 or 2days per year. Normally the door is shut so you can't walk in but has the top part open. I know there is a word for this type of door. The 'accepted' way to get the attention of the people in a tienda is to take a coin and just tap on the door. Most (maybe by definition all) tiendas are a room of the house off the street.

Me at my bar stool. Some tienda's let you drink and others don't. Reuben doesn't as tienda's with drinking tend to bring in the obnoxious drunks. Friends can drink there however.

Gloria

Reuben -

Notice the eggs at the bottom right - no refrigeration. How long do the keep?

Garbage, Rats & Bastard (or Angel)

Last December (I believe) was the election and Danilo Angel (not to be confused with an angel but hereafter referred to as the bastard) won the election for mayor.

Understand that I am a lazy ass student of Spanish and that I may or may not have my facts correct. I understand most everything when I talk with my friends who use good (and slow) Spanish (most does not mean all and often 1 word can change the meaning significantly).

OK. Angel (oops, the bastard) won the election (I believe it was his third attempt) and one of his platforms was making Huehue a cleaner place. Immediately after he took office things actually got better. Garbage pickup was run by a private company and people paid the company to pick up the garbage weekly (just as in the states – at least in TR). I believe it was 30Q a month but I’m not going to swear to that. Anyway before long he had the city take over the garbage pickup. Otto (my friend) believes that his advisors persuaded him to do this by convincing him it would be a huge money maker for the city. I’m not sure how he managed to take over but things down here are not as they are at home.

So now the bastard has control of the garbage pickup and can rake in the revenue for the city (and presumably skim his cut off the top) and guess what happened? The dump said “up yours”. The city was not allowed to dump anymore. This I don’t understand but I am guessing maybe they didn’t want to accept the garbage anymore and this was an easy out (pure speculation on my part). The city continued to look for places to dump as the garbage piled up. They made several attempts to have the garbage dumped elsewhere (I’m guessing with midnight runs or at least in secret) and this resulted in having the truck destroyed by really pissed off people in (I think) 2 instances. With nowhere to dump the garbage piled up.

This problem took place in March – June (I think) although I heard nothing in March when I was here but I was only here for a few days and the problem was just starting. Apparently at its worst it was a mess. Now there is (apparently) less of a problem (it has all been picked up) although the garbage pickup is sporadic at best. Many times in the morning I see where people made midnight runs to dump their garbage somewhere on the street. I do not know where they (the city) dump now.

At some point the bastard took off and is nowhere to be found although he is still the mayor. Maybe he is with the Honduran president? I think if he returned he would not live long. My friend Jorge works for the city and he will only say it’s not good. Apparently (from Otto) money from the government and from other countries earmarked for different projects is missing. All Jorge will say is it’s not good – I think he may be worried about his job (pure speculation) and he isn’t that far from retirement.

Where do rats fit into this? Although some may call the bastard a rat I believe in calling it as I see it. My question is: Where are the rats? With all the garbage that I have seen (and what I heard there was) I would have believed the population of rats would have skyrocketed. I have not seen a single rat (although I’m not out at night). However, apparently Typhoid Fever is a problem.

Never trust them angels.

I'm alive and well

First Deb sent me an email yesterday saying people were concerned/wondering because I hadn't posted a blog and then Don sent me an email today asking if I was alive. For better or worse folks I am here and doing fine.

My day to day life here is not much to write about.

I've started running again (the 534th time in my life). I am now up to over 40 minutes. It was dificult at first because of the altitude (not to mention the piss poor shape I had allowed myself to get into). The altitude here is about 2,000 meters which is just a tad more than TR. I have 1 run that is just a bitch. The first time I stopped 5 times. Saturday when I did it I only stopped twice. This route leaves huehue very flat, dips down and then is straight up. I will post pictures some day. The first part (the straight up part) fittingly ends at a cemetary and then continues with a 'gentler' incline. Once you reach the top you can complete a circle that gently is downhill for the next 20 plus minutes.

My average day:

get up, run and shower by 7 am

eat breakfast

go to school at 8 am

get done with school at noon

go home and eat lunch between 1 and 2 pm

go to the orphanage for 2 to 3 hours

wander home - this takes about 2 to 3 hours, checking my email, having a few brewskies and ending up at my favorite place (besides the stumpjack) to have a beer: the local tienda.

I get home at 7:30ish for dinner and then go out or stay in and read but am in bed by 10 at the latest.

I will post a blog about the tienda later.

The kids are doing fine at the orphanage. At this moment there is close to 100.

hasta pronto

I´m in Panajachel

I’m in Pana – got here about 2:30. I left the school at about 10:30 am. Its hard to believe it takes that long. Actually the bus really got going at about 11 am and I got to Solola at 1:50. The bus for some reason stopped several blocks from the bus stop to catch the Pana bus (traffic congestion due to the market?) so I walked (obviously) and I think I yinged when I should have yanged – I walked through the market to I lost time. It probably should have taken just a tad over 3 hours to get here. I do enjoy walking through the markets though. The smells are interesting – ranging from enticing to urine – the whole spectrum.

Huehue to Quatro Caminos - 20Q
Quatro Caminos - La Cuchio - 15Q
La Cuchio to Solola - 2.50Q
Solola - Pana - 3Q

Price really is the same as it was last year. Very uncrowded busses though - vaguely disturbing.

I’m staying where I usually stay (especially when on a low budget) – Posada Montufar. It is 42Q per night with shared bath. Just a tad over $5.

I will be here for 2 nights.

Be careful what you write.

During Estalita’s party Sandra made a comment (favorable) about my blog. Talk about a shock. Apparently she Google’s fundacion Salvacion and then uses the Google translator to read. I was a tad embarrassed to say the least.

Estailita’s Birthday

Estalita’s birthday is today but we celebrated it yesterday. I wanted to go to Pana today and she has her music lessons on Friday so it just made sense. Paty, Karan (a 10 year old) and I went out to buy a cake and present for Estalita. Paty really wasn’t much help but finaly said her CD player (small boom box that I bought her last year) was broke so I bought her a new one. We also got a nice (170Q ouch) cake. In the process I got soaked. It was pouring out. I had my umbrella but I let the girls use it as it was to small for all 3 of us. We took the taxi back.

We celebrated with Sandra, a few of the workers, friends and the little kids that Paty and Estalita are responsible for.

Here are a few pictures.

My first 2 days in Huehue

Not much new.

I started classes on Monday. Maria is my teacher for the first part and Otto for the second part. So far Otto and I have just talked and Maria is reviewing with me. I imagine that I will spend the first 2 weeks just reviewing. It slowly is coming back – possibly I need to study.

Have been to the fundacion every day. The kids are doing fine. Yesterday we went out to eat for lunch. It’s really interesting watching how the girls grow. When I first took the girls out to eat (December 2003) my intention was to take them to a nice restaurant. Patty was having none of that, she wanted to go to Pollo Campero (KFC like chain in Guatemala) – we went to Pollo Campero. In fact we went to Pollo Campero exclusively until last year. Last year Patty asked if we could go to La Fonda which is a nice restaurant. Of course I was thrilled to do that as I was sick of Pollo Campero. Every time however that we went to a restaurant Patty (and Estelita) ordered pizza.

I guess growth comes in small steps. Yesterday when we went I was shocked when Patty ordered a traditional Guatemalan meal – she is no longer a kid I guess. After we ate we walked around the center of town and then went to a café (I wanted a coffee) and Patty astounded me again by ordering a capuccinno. Will wonders never cease.

Estelita now is only studying piano – I’m not quite sure why. She said she will talk to me later about what she wants to do. I think she only wants to study voice.

Motorcycle's Revisited

I had it all pretty correct except that the helmet is mandatory. Apparently in certain cities the law is enforced and where there are no problems (like Huehue) the law is different/not enforced. For example in Huehue you can have 2 people on the bike and only the passenger needs the vest and helmet. However the law is not enforced.

This is a clasic example of how politicos make laws without thinking of the ramifications. Apparently there were a lot of protests over this but they fell on deaf ears.

In latin america as in many other parts of the world the motorcyle is the mode of transportation for the middle class. They can't afford a car but they can afford a cycle which is used to transport kids to school, spouse to work, etc. Often times you will see 2, 3, or even 4 people on a bike. Now enforce this law and how do you get your wife to work, or your child to school? Why they take the public transportation. It's the public transportation that is being targeted by the criminals. So now to try and eliminate one problem you have put thousands of people in more danger. If you chose to ignore the law the fine is over 1000Q which is more than alot of people make in a month. They solved 1 problem at the expense of many - it sucks big time.

motorcyles

More or less I have this correct - a few details may be slightly off. I hope to talk to Otto tomorrow and make sure I have this all correct.

Due to the high numbers of murders commited from motorcycles there is a new law in Guatemala. I am assuming it is enforced in Guatemala City because it sure isn´t enforced here. With 2 people on a bike and helmets which function as a mask it is very easy to commit a drive by shooting or assasination and on a bike it is very easy to get away. The traffic is crazy and there is no way a car could get away but a bike is super easy.

The law as I understand it.
1) 1 person per bike
2) you must have a vest on that has your license plate number on it. These vests are black with reflective silver stripes and your plate number is reflective also. The vests come in different styles; mesh, a very light material, a heavier material and I´m sure they have them in jackets also.
3) if you wear a helmet it to must have the license plate number on it.

I assume that if you aren´t in compliance (in Guatemala City) you would be stopped. Nots sure if it helps or not.

Estoy en Guatemala

I went to the counter in San Cristobal and the earliest bus to Comitan was 10:15 so I took a colectiveo (40P).

note: colectivos operate between 2 fixed points, normally two adjacent towns. They don't leave until they have enough people in them to make the ride profitable. They then drop and pick people up along the way. Usually they are vans but occasionaly can be taxis.

My colectivo from San Cristobal was a taxi and left once they had 4 passengers so it was (relatively speaking) a quick ride.

In Comitan I walked across the road and caught a colective (van for 30P) to the border. I crossed the border at 1:10. I had to go thru Mexican customs and then took a taxi (colectivo 10P) for a couple more miles to the Guatemalan side and went through Guatemalan customs.

Before customs I dealt with the usual crooks (money changers) and as usual got ripped off.

$1/7Q

1P/Q

not sure what the ATM exchange rate is yet.

After the Guatemalan customs I asked how much for a taxi ride (they are tuk-tuk's) to the bus terminal (basically a vacant lot) and it was 20Q. I walked.

Cost 20Q for the 2 plus hour ride to Huehue and arrived at about 2pm (Guatemala is an hour behind Mexico - they don't use daylight savings time). Took a taxi (25Q) to the orphanage but the girls were at some activity at some church. I visited for a bit and then went to the school for a hour or so. After that I went to my house, stopping at the tienda for a beer and to catch up with Gloria and Reuben. Carlos showed up there also.

Had dinner at the school and was in bed by 10pm.

Why Do I Do This?

Found a wireless place so am having my 3rd dose of caffeine (they charged my 5P for the password) so I am posting this and the prievious 2 posts

7:56 am

Why Do I Do This?

I walked down to the central plaza to a café in hopes of getting a cappuccino and a wireless connection. I’ve got the cappuccino but not the wireless.

Now to the question I posed.
It seems somewhat bizarre that I would travel all this distance and only 1 time did spend 2 nights in the same place. Many of the places that I went to (In México all but PV) I would love to spend 2 or 3 days at.

I have always dreamed of traveling in this fashion. Slowly moving on (albeit on this trip it was quickly moving on) toward some goal. When I was a child I used to dream of riding my bicycle across the country. Every day moving on a bit farther. As a thirty something adult I canoed with Deb or friends and we moved on down the river every day – never staying 2 days at the same spot. I have also dreamed of canoeing the Mississippi from Lake Itasca to Gulf of México.

This form of traveling is what I like best – but to be honest it would be much better if I had the time to spend the 2 or 3 days at each spot.

Was this a great vacation? Hell yes it was. Can I explain why, not really. You either totally understand or you can never understand.

One thing this trip did teach me is that I can’t wait till I retire. If all goes well I’ll retire in 10 years at age 62 and then make the trip down the pan American from Alaska to the tip of South America and then maybe up the coast on the east (would have to spend some time learning Portuguese though. And no, I wouldn’t just travel on the pan American but travel south.

Will try and post this and then I’m Comitan bound. I figure 5 to 6 hours from when I leave here till I arrive in Huehue.

Not sure if I’m ready to study tomorrowL

Sunday Morning 5 July

Get out and vote!

5:17 am

I’m in Tutxla. I had this fleeting thought in Tehuantepec that I would check and see if I could change my ticket as maybe the bus continued on in the direction I was going. I didn’t check and the bus is. I however am glad to be off the bus for a bit. I would die for a coffee right now but the damn coffee shop isn’t open.

I don’t like the overnight busses. It takes me forever to be able to sleep, and it’s never a comfortable sleep. I fall asleep and then wake up 20 minutes later and continually repeat the process. So it’s 5:23 am and I probably got 3 hours of sleep last night at best.

7:15 am

My bus left at 6am sharp (25P) and I must have slept most of the way. I looked at my watch when we pulled into San Cristobal and I figured we weren’t here yet as I thought it would take 2 hours. The driver however said we were in San Cristobal. I put my back pack in storage (10P/hr) and found a restaurant across the street. After I eat I will find a bus/colectivo to get to Comitan.